Spudgers at the ready! The 5th Generation iPod Touch sprung upon us with an early release, so we jumped out and got it on our lunch break and tore it down for dinner. It's out in stores and coming to a pocket near you.

Adicionar comentário

If the taste of the rainbow didn't give it away, the Touch has an identifying model number A1421 printed on the back.

With an 1136-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 pixels per inch, the Touch is begging for a test drive. We like to light up our gadgets for a split second before we tear them apart, as a sort of ceremonial goodbye.

Adicionar comentário

Sadly, getting the lid off doesn't reveal any of the more "funner" we were promised. We were expecting to find a surprise—maybe a clue that would lead to the whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa's remains—but instead we were met with an obtrusive EMI shield and several screws.

It looks like the mistake here was pulling off both the yellow/green flex circuit and the black tape at the same time. Presumably, if you'd lifted off just the black tape, you would have been able to unsolder the flex circuit from the logic board.

Adicionar comentário

As we expected, the battery inside the Touch is secured with adhesive.

Fortunately, the notches around the edge of the battery made tactical prying points for our plastic opening tool, freeing the battery.

The iPhone 5's battery utilized 3.8 V chemistry to squeeze every last second of battery life out of its Li-ion power source. Though without LTE sapping all its charge, the iPod Touch didn't require such measures.

This Plain Jane battery provides 3.8 Wh at 3.7 V for a rating of 1030 mAh, a little more than the previous model's 930 mAh.

The battery connections are apparently soldered, requiring a soldering iron, cleaner, flux, and solder making battery replacement much more difficult for most DIYers. Seems like an important thing to mention in this teardown.

I think the fact that there's less parts and that this iPod Touch is crazy light will cause less damage from drops and bumps. The lightning connector and the speaker grill will probably allow less water in than the larger iPod connector if the device were to be briefly submerged. Basically, keep an iFixit thirsty bag with you and perhaps get a case for your device and everything should be relatively safe.

I think the repairability score is too high. The iPads get lower repairability scores, yet the batteries are not soldered on, the glass and display are not fused together, and there are more removable components.

Hi cityzen, thanks for your interest in our teardown! We added a picture of the backside of the logic board, in step 18, that shows the three battery connections (and a bit of the cable that got left behind when we disconnected the battery).

"Sadly, getting the lid off doesn't reveal any of the more "funner" we were promised. We were expecting to find a surprise—maybe a clue that would lead to the whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa's remains—but instead we were met with an obtrusive EMI shield and several screws."

Now that you guys have been "bought" by Microsoft, do THEY write the snarky anti-Apple BS, or do you?

Probably still a 3 out of 10. Adhesive is an automatic 5 point reduction and it appears you have to remove the logic board from the soldered battery connection to disconnect the display, though conceivably, you could peel the battery out of it's adhesive with the logic board. Maybe I'm looking at it wrong. Hopefully, we'll see a screen replacement guide soon.

No iphone for me - I don't want people calling me while I'm out on my run thanks. I just bought the 64gb 5th gen ipod touch. It's awesome and I can't imagine why anyone would want the 16gb version when you can get the 32gb (and all the bells and whistles) for not all that much more $$. I read this review here: http://www.squidoo.com/apple-ipod-touch-... which was cool, as it was awesome for running, something I was quite surprised about, even though that's exactly what I bought it for.

Lifeproof makes a case explicitly for this unit and it does have it's own separate button for attaching the loop supplied with the iPod. That loop is removable. I plan to make my own loop from #325 paracord instead of using Apple's. The button is not removable on the Lifeproof case.

Assuming I can take it apart and want to finish putting it back together -- what do I do about the adhesive that was melted to open the case? Will I need some kind of replacement adhesive, or will the case together without it?

Teardowns said to provide a look inside a device and should not be used as disassembly instructions. Then why the &&^& placed the video and links to instructions for repair and dismantling? Speak clearly.

My ipod has recently went into a state where it is now renders useless because it is stuck on the apple logo, I've tried to put it in recovery mode but that didn't do anything because now its stuck in recovery mode. I don't believe this can be fixed but I've heard its theoretically possible to remove the data chip from and ipod and put it in a new one, but I don't know what it looks like and so I was hoping you could post a picture of it. I realize I might just destroy two ipods in the process but I thinks it worth trying to save my data.

Three out of ten rebarability score is far to generous. The Lightning port is very prone to breaking in this model as Lightning port pins are raised, also there is no waterproofing around either the Lightning port or headphone jack. This frequently makes replacements necessary for the entire lower portion of the iPod (headphone jack Lightning port speaker ) this repair requires a mircrosoldering station (something I seriously doubt the average iPod owner has lying around) as that damage prone lower portion is soldered directly onto the logic board with about 50-70 solder points.

Seems like Apple is at it again with the planned obsoletion and screwing over both their customers and third party repair shops. Almost no repair shops touch this device and repair of any problem pertaining to a connector on this thing is near impossible to repair at home

Recursos

Reparabilidade

Fique no circuito

It's time to speak out for your right to repair

We have a chance to guarantee our right to repair electronic
equipment—like smartphones, computers, and even farm equipment. This is a once-in-a-generation
chance to protect local repair jobs—the corner mom-and-pop repair shops that
keep getting squeezed out by manufacturers.

Join the cause and tell your state representative to support Right to Repair. Tell them you believe repair should be fair, affordable, and accessible. Stand up for your right to repair!